Is There Flash Player for iPad?

Raymond Chan writes: When I try and use my iPad to look at product websites and certain TV programming, I get a message that says that I need to download Adobe Flash. When I try to do this, I get a message that Apple does not support Adobe Flash Player.

Presumably, this is some corporate battle between Apple and Adobe. But is there an app that can be used in lieu of Adobe and do you have any insight to this issue? Thanks.

Hello, Raymond Chan, yes, you’re right— there’s no Flash on the iPhone or the iPad—period. And while some Flash sites now boast fully functional, non-Flash versions for the iPhone and iPad, many others still don’t.

That doesn’t mean you’re totally out of luck, however. You can get those Flash video to iPad compatible format with 3rd-party iPad Video Converters. You can also get these iPad apps to play Flash content on the iPad. One or more may work with your content. Essentially, these apps transcode the Flash on a remote server, then send the (hopefully) playable content back to your iPad. Lag time can be a challenge though, due to the time needed to convert the Flash content and return it to your device. None guarantees the content you want will play, but worth exploring. You might try:

This app can help your iPad to use flash player, by using this application you can browsing to a website that uses flash player for iPad. Some features of Skyfire are a Flash Video that used to play flash videos on your iPad, some features of Skyfire are: Facebook QuickView is a feature that allows you to access your Facebook account, except that there is also Twitter QuickView for easy access to your twitter account, Fireplace Feed Reader, Google Reader, Facebook Like Button, Share, User Agent Switching, Private Browsing to your security during browsing, Full Screen Browsing Mode.

Photon Flash Web Browser from AppsVerse is a revolutionary product that seems to deliver a rich experience on the Web for Flash on the IPad. Like other iPad browsers which have flash enabled, the Photon browser kicks into a virtual session when you encounter Flash content you want to play and you just click on the “Lighting” icon to download the flash video, you would like to see. The best part about this app is that it’s tested to work with the new iPad. Most of it’s servers are located in US, so the connection may be slower if you are outside of US.

Using iSwifter is a great way to browse Flash content on your iPad; the app basically allows you to control a web browser in the cloud which not only gives you the ability to access US only content but also make use of a desktop web browser’s features. I was successfully able to play a game on Miniclip.com and watch videos on Vevo quite smoothly. Remember though, since this is a remote web browser you’re accessing, it is not really advisable to log in to websites, however the choice is yours. If you’re looking for a way to access Flash content on iOS, this is the best way to do it.